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Association of Breast Cancer Risk with a Common Functional Polymorphism (Asp327Asn) in the Sex Hormone–Binding Globulin Gene

¹ Department of Medicine, Center for Health Services Research, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee and ² Department of Epidemiology, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Shanghai, China

Requests for reprints: Yong Cui, Vanderbilt University Center for Health Services Research, 6th Floor, Medical Center East, Nashville, TN 37232-8300. Phone: 615-936-0713; Fax: 615-936-1269. E-mail: Xiao-Ou.Shu{at}Vanderbilt.edu

Sex hormones play a central role in the development of breast cancer. Sex hormone–binding globulin (SHBG) modulates the bioavailability of circulating sex hormones and regulates their signaling system in the breast tissue. We evaluated the association of a common functional polymorphism (Asp327Asn) in the SHBG gene with breast cancer risk in a population-based case-control study (1,106 cases and 1,180 controls) conducted in Shanghai, China. The variant Asn allele was associated with a reduced breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women [odds ratio (OR), 0.73; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.53-0.99], but not in premenopausal women (OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.82-1.27). The protective association was much stronger in postmenopausal women with a low body mass index (BMI; OR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.29-0.75) or waist-to-hip ratio (OR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.32-0.83) than those with a high BMI or waist-to-hip ratio (P for interaction < 0.05). Furthermore, the association was stronger for estrogen receptor–positive (OR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.42-0.98) than for estrogen receptor–negative breast cancer (OR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.50-1.45). Among postmenopausal controls, blood SHBG levels were 10% higher in carriers of the variant Asn allele than noncarriers (P = 0.06). Postmenopausal control women with the Asn allele and low BMI or waist-to-hip ratio had 20% higher SHBG levels (P < 0.05). This study suggests that the Asn allele in the SHBG gene may be related to a reduced risk of breast cancer among postmenopausal women by increasing their blood SHBG levels.

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